No it isn’t! I’ll try to explain, but please remember that words are just like road signs. They show you how to get to a town, by they’re not the town. And sometimes the wind or wacky kids turn them around and send you somewhere else. Same thing with words. The variety of interpretations and meanings sometimes turn the directions around. I'm falling in love with Prayer. I've been slowly discovering that prayer is not just the words you say. Prayer is mainly a state of the soul, a way of being, but it's a great help to repeat the words.

Friend:

Hum! You’re becoming devout.

H.

Not really. Let me tell you a story. Two pieces of scrap iron met in a crucible. They were enjoying their red-hot bath of molten metal, and one said to the other: “You’re becoming an automobile.” The other one replied: “We don’t know what we’re going to be, the only thing we know is that we’ll no longer be scrap.” After some years had passed, they met again. One was a refrigerator door, the other a child’s bike. They greeted each other warmly and talked about their experiences. The refrigerator door said, “Finally we’re something!”The bike replied: “It’s OK to enjoy what we are now, but in time the fridge will rust away, the kid will grow up, and once again we’ll meet in the crucible …”

Friend:

I think I’m starting to understand. Please tell me more.

H:

Do you really want to know more about this?

Friend:

Sure, didn’t I tell you that I’m starting to understand?

H:

OK, but please be careful with your questions, this knowledge could be as large as life!

Friend:

Don’t go to extremes! Just tell me something more about your own experience.

H:

The thing is, spiritual learning doesn’t mean acquiring more ideas. You know because you are, you learn because you are gradually changing. That’s where new ideas come from.

Really? Then, let’s add some color and sound. Images and sound bring words to life.

Friend:

What do you mean?

H:

I mean, did you ever sing your prayers? Did you put them to music?

Friend:

I’m not a composer!

H:

No! That’s not it! Composers compose for the public. The music I’m talking about is intimate, you search for your own melody—not one of those melodies that stir up emotions or strong sensations. You want a melody that gives light and color to the present moment, that helps you be more fully yourself wherever you are, while inspiring you and giving a new direction to what you’re doing. There’s no one listening to you, just as there’s no one else who can live your life. If you can’t be by yourself when you sing this song of yours, then sing it to yourself, in your imagination.

Friend:

Please, sing one of your songs for me.

H:

No! No! They’re not for other people, they’re intimate.

Friend:

Well, then at least describe what prayer is a little more.

H:

After the words are finished, only a pure act remains. If you’re working, this prayer will bring you closer to your work. It’s like dancing in the air with the words of prayer, but without being distracted. Prayer is only at the
beginning—it moves you in the direction of offering yourself, but afterwards what you are doing becomes the dance. You keep working, and you work better than before. Your work becomes your prayer because of the direction and the intention you started with. There’s a new quality in what you do, like the opening of a great space of silence that lets you pay attention to what you are doing and what the people around you need.

Friend:

OK, but where do we go now, once the words are over?

H:

Well, I’ll tell you my favorite prayer and you tell me yours, and if you don't have any, look for one and tell it to me so we can say or sing each other’s. And after the words are over, we can each discover where the prayer takes us, what effect it has on us.